The Oak Creek Water and Sewer Utility today announced milestone achievements in both the technical and financial areas of its operations.  

“Our customers have come to expect and deserve in-depth consideration of both technical and financial aspects when considering how best to equip the Utility to ensure the cleanest, safest drinking water possible flows to their homes and businesses,” said Utility General Manager Steven N. Yttri. “This approach, which has contributed to our decades of recognition for water safety and financial reporting, has served well the communities and ratepayers that depend on our world-class water system for their water.”    

Utility Recognized for Decade of Safe Water Partnership

The Utility will receive a Ten-Year Directors Award as part of the EPA’s Partnership for Safe Water Program (Partnership) in 2008. No other utility in Wisconsin, and only three other utilities in the Nation, have received a Ten-Year Award to date. A Directors Award is earned by a water treatment plant that has completed Phase III in the Partnership program. Renewed annually, a Utility must submit an application each year to maintain Phase III status.   

In Oak Creek, water treatment guidance is provided in part by its involvement in the Partnership, a cooperative of six drinking water organizations including the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the AWWA website, over 85 million people receive higher quality drinking water from utilities that participate in this program. The Oak Creek water treatment plant is one of more than 400 treatment plants in the Partnership.

Utility Receives Highest Recognition in Governmental Accounting and Financial Reporting

For 14 consecutive years, the Utility has received the Government Finance Officers Association’s highest honor for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting is awarded by an impartial national panel. The panel bestows this honor on public entities with accounting and financial reporting that demonstrate a spirit of full disclosure to clearly communicate their financial stories in a fashion that motivates readership.

Utility Ensures Internal Controls Meet Industry Standards

The Utility recently commissioned an internal control study by an independent audit firm to ensure its accounting practices remained aligned with industry standards. Facts noted in the study included exemplary leadership qualifications and strength of the Utility’s existing internal controls.

“Even though we have received annual recognition by an international accounting organization for the last 14 years, and have been continuously recognized for the strength of our internal controls” Yttri said, “we thought it prudent to give ourselves an additional check to ensure we were doing everything we could to provide ratepayers the utmost confidence in our financial soundness.”

Over the last 15 years, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) has headed the Utility accounting staff. This level of qualification, as the report notes, is necessary to make certain Utility employees have a better understanding of roles and responsibilities. Additional recommendations made in the study were evaluated using standard cost-benefit analyses. Recommendations where costs did not exceed the benefits to the Utility and its ratepayers have been implemented.